Nature Notes July 2020

Date Published: 01-08-2020

July was a dry, occasionally hot and sometimes windy month with less rainfall than average.

SIGHTINGS
Birds (seen or heard): Carrion Crows, Magpies, Buzzards, Common Gulls. Black–headed Gulls, Swift, Tawny Owls, Green/Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Sparrowhawks, Wood Pigeons, Collared Doves, Stock Doves, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Wrens, Blackbirds, Song Thrush, Robins, Dunnocks, Siskins,
Stonechats, Nightjar, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Bullfinches, Coal/Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.
Insects: Midges, Wasps, Hover Flies, Raft Spider, Ants, Wasp Spider, Harvestman Spider, Wolf Spider, Field Grasshopper, Nursery-Web Spider, Seven Spot Lady Bug, Bombus Jonellus Bee, Tachinid Fly.
Butterflies/Moths: Silver-studded Blue, Holly Blue, Large/Small White,
Speckled Wood, Peacock, Brimstone, Small Heath, Comma, Painted Lady, Red Admiral.
Mammals: Grey Squirrels, Pipistrelle Bats, Hedgehogs, Fox.
Pond Life: Pond Skaters, Whirlygig Beetles.
Reptiles: Common Lizard, Grass Snake.
Plants (in flower/berry): Holly berries, Ivy berries, Blackberry fruits, Flowering currant berries, Large white water Lily, Dwarf Summer Gorse, Cut-leaved Geranium, Buttercup, Ling Heather, Pink Loosestrife, Myrtle.
Dragonfly/Damselfly: Broad Bodied Chaser, Four Spot Chaser, Small Red, Common Blue.
The last of the Silver-studded Blue Butterflies were seen up to the last week of July.
A colony of Helleborines, which were in bud ready to flower, were protected with a small fence to prevent footfall. Unfortunately, the grazing cattle were introduced and they were all eaten. Marsh Gentians on the central heathland, which are not protected, may meet the same fate.
It has been observed that two families of Stonechats were on site
this Summer.
A Swift was seen in flight over the east side of the Reserve.

NATURE FACT
The Tachinid Fly, a specie which occurs throughout Britain, resembles the Hoverfly closely and is difficult to distinguish from it. Length 10 mm. It is likely to be seen near trees from May to late September. Its larvae are internal parasites of caterpillars.

Recorder: C. Wilcox